Friday, November 16, 2012

The Netherlands - All You Can Eat Sushi @ SUMO

Finding good sushi in a small town like Wageningen is proven to be difficult. One day I went to Rotterdam for a sight-seeing trip and found this well-rumored restaurant called SUMO. From what I found, SUMO is a large all-you-can-eat sushi chain in the Netherlands. 

The all-you-can-eat system here is different from what I'm used to in Singapore and Indonesia, where you just order whatever you like or grab the plates from the rotating conveyor belt, with no time limits, and refillable hot tea. Here in the Netherlands, most all-you-can-eat restaurants do it by rounds.

In this restaurant, you are given 6 rounds per person, and on each round you can order 5 dishes on the menu. Lunches are normally cheaper by about 5 euro because some menu are not available (and they're normally the ones you really want to eat). So in total you will have 30 plates per person.

The first time we came to SUMO, there were six of us. For each round we had to order 5 x 6 = 30 plates, and our table was constantly full. In total, if we went full course for 6 rounds, there would be 6 x 30 = 180 plates, but no one was insane enough to survive round 6. We gave up at round 4, so in total there were 120 plates on our table. For 18.50 euros, it's really worth the money because seafood is very expensive in the Netherlands and a plate of sashimi costs you 12.50 euros. with an extra 6 euros, you can beat yourself to death with sushi.

Of course, the limitation was the drinks. We ordered a pot of green tea each, and by round 2 there was no more tea. And it's not refillable. To top it up, the pot was actually super small. If you measure the volume capacity of the pot, it's actually equivalent to a small mug. The cheapest drink you can get is 2.50, so... yeah, drinks can cost you a lot in this restaurant. But otherwise they will earn no profit and you cannot eat anymore good sushi around :(

They serve "basic" sushi like nigirizushi, makizushi (rolled) and temaki (cone shaped). 




I must say that the quality of the fish was excellent. It was very fresh (no sign of defrosting, like the one I had in Ede), and they didn't just give you tiny cuts of fish. The fish completely covered the rice portion of the sushi (and even way beyond the rice) in case of nigirizushi




The sushi rolls were pretty good, although I saw very little difference between crunchy tuna and cream cheese tuna aside from the avocado in crunchy tuna replaced by cream cheese, and the addition of white sesame seeds coating the surface of cream cheese tuna. And spicy tuna rolls were basically crunchy tuna without the crunchy fried tempura batter, basted in chili powder.


They also serve warm food like usuyaki beef (beef roll with asparagus inside), yakitori, beef teriyaki and gyoza.



I don't really recommend the salads because most of them contain meats anyways, and the only fresh-looking salad available, sunomono, is unbelievably sour. It's like drinking vinegar straight from the bottle. 


BUT it tasted good after eating deep fried, oily foods. It helps you to eat more, so it's worth getting after the second round :)

You can see the menu here, or download it straight from the website for more info.

It's worth the money. Really :D

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are welcome, but please comment responsibly :)